Artifact invites contributions for a special issue on issues in design research and design research methods edited by Jonas Löwgren and Yukari Nagai. Please consider contributing and repost where appropriate. Best and thanks, Charlie Breindahl http://www.informaworld.com/artifact ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS Journal: Artifact Special issue: Issues in design research and design research methods INTRODUCTION: DESIGN RESEARCH AND OUR SCOPE Design research is a challenging topic with many open issues concerning conceptual foundations and methodological practices. It is also a timely topic, given the current movement in art and design institutions towards articulation, conceptualization and research, where labels such as practice-based research abound. We aim at compiling a special issue of Artifact that collects up-to- date experience and thoughts on design research, crucial issues for taking the field further, and best practices in design research methodology. To be a little more specific, we might use the well-known distinction between research-into-design, research-for-design, and research-by- design that was introduced by British scholars in the 1970s. Even though it is somewhat debated, it helps in indicating the breadth of the design research field. Research-into-design refers to studies of the activity of designing, whereas research-for-design concerns the development of knowledge to support design practice and research-by-design refers to developing knowledge about a phenomenon by designing for it. What we are looking for are contributions that report on theoretical and methodological findings in design research, or reflect upon theoretical and methodological issues in design research, rather than examples of design research per se. Here are some examples of questions to indicate the kind of contributions we have in mind. - Research-into-design: How can we study the activity of designing? What are the methodological conclusions and caveats? What are the characteristics of designing that have an impact on the choice of research methods? - Research-for-design: What is design ability and how can it be developed? How can the development of design ability be facilitated by knowledge contributions from research? What does validation mean in relation to such knowledge contributions? What are the criteria for judging the quality of research results? How can we conduct research that leads to knowledge for design? - Research-by-design: How can we conduct research by design? Can we construct knowledge about a phenomenon by designing for it? What is the nature of that knowledge? What is the role of the artifact in such knowledge construction processes? What does validation mean in relation to knowledge constructed by designing? What are the criteria for judging goodness of research results? What are the epistemological foundations of exploring possible futures? There are, of course, also general questions to be addressed, such as: What is design research? What should it be? What is the role of design research? What should it be? Our list of questions is by no means complete. It is provided merely for inspiration, to get your thoughts started on what could be a useful contribution to the special issue. TIMELINE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 1. Submit your manuscript as a PDF file by email to both of us, no later than March 15, 2008. You can find our addresses below. The manuscript should be no more than 12 000 words and formatted for general readability. See the Instructions for authors at the Artifact web site (address below) for information on how to treat references and other aspects of manuscript preparation. Start the subject line with the words "Artifact special issue submission". 2. Your manuscript will be peer-reviewed and we will notify you of our decision no later than May 1, 2008. The manuscript can be accepted for publication (as-is or with minor revisions), accepted conditionally if you revise it according to our instructions, or rejected. 3a. Authors of accepted manuscripts submit final version of text and images for publication no later than June 1, 2008. 3b. Authors of conditionally accepted manuscripts submit final version of revised text and images for publication no later than June 1, 2008. We provide notification of acceptance no later than June 8, 2008. 4. We write an editorial introduction and hand it over to the general editors, together with the accepted manuscripts, on July 1, 2008. The articles appear in volume 2, issue 3, of Artifact, which is slated to appear in September, 2008. CONTACT If you have questions about this call for contributions, or if you have an idea for a contribution that you want to discuss with us before starting to develop it, we would be happy to talk to you. Please send us an email and we will get back to you. We are looking forward to your contribution! The guest editors: Jonas Löwgren, Malmö University, Sweden, jonas.lowgren@mah.se Yukari Nagai, Japan Adv. Institute of Science and Technology, ynagai@ jaist.ac.jp The journal Artifact is published by Taylor and Francis. It is an international peer-reviewed academic journal dealing with design. The journal addresses topical themes and issues that are of relevance to design researchers, practising designers, and manufacturers. It reflects the broad field that makes up design today by giving researchers from different disciplines the opportunity to debate and exchange ideas about specific areas and issues. The aim of the journal is to promote transdisciplinary design research, encourage cross-fertilization, interconnections, and crossbreeding among different scientific disciplines, the design industry, and the arts. The journal embraces experimental research approaches to design, with a basis in, or view to applied design practice. More information about Artifact, including general instructions on manuscript preparation, is available at http://www.informaworld.com/artifact -- Charlie Breindahl External Lecturer University of Copenhagen + IT University of Copenhagen Co-editor, Artifact, http://www.informaworld.com/artifact "For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to turn into knights" - Janet H. Murray